I know this is somewhat late <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> , but did anyone have a chance to see Walesa when he was in the U.S. in the fall? What do you think of him? My father thinks he was a good person, but always seems to quote his odd verbal things such as "I'm for, and even against!"

Tomek

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. -St. Paul

Ask anyone in the world what associations the word Poland brings. Chances are Solidarity, Eastern Europe's first anti-communist movement, and Gdansk, the city it was born in, will be the first to spring up to mind. Danusia Szafraniec visits this Baltic port city to see how much of the Solidarity spirit you can still find there.Gdansk: the cradle of SolidarityListen to the documentary broadcast.

Ask anyone in the world what associations the word Poland brings. Chances are Solidarity, Eastern Europe's first anti-communist movement, and Gdansk, the city it was born in, will be the first to spring up to mind. Danusia Szafraniec visits this Baltic port city to see how much of the Solidarity spirit you can still find there.

Unfortunately I did not see him as a person here but I heard him a couple of times. Walesa was great union leader but a lousy president.

I heard him talking a couple of times in the US. It seems that his translators are very smart... because they can translate his speech so... that he seems to be smarter after translation than without it, yes really <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Honestly Walesa is not a popular leader any more.. People usually laugh while hearing him speaking.. Even a polish singer "Kazik" wrote a song about his idea to give each Pole a 100.000.000 zlotys.. When presidential election in Poland is taking place, Walesa always tries to win this, but all he gets is a 1% of the votes... So Walesa become a caricature...

I had the chance to see him when he was in Connecticut in September of 2004. Considering his education and the life he had around that time, he does pretty well for himself. And yes, I must commend his good translators.

Tomek

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. -St. Paul

In 2005 Poles will be electing a new Parliament and a new president. It is quite likely that a national referendum on the European constitutional treaty will also be held. At the end of August the city of Gdansk will host many VIPs from Poland and abroad celebrating the 25th anniversary of Solidarity. Michal Kubicki reports.

Looking at Poland's current scene, with its many corruption scandals, it is hardly surprising that most people are distrustful of political elites and somewhat disappointed with the overall record of the post-communist transformations. A prominent writer Halina Bortnowska, who was one of the founding members of Solidarity in Krakow, recalls the formation of the union as one of the most memorable events in her life. HALINA BORTNOWSKA: "The moment of the greatest public enjoyment I had in my life was when in Krakow, in the steelworks, somebody came back from Gdansk and told us all these things we are doing now, they will be called "Solidarity". And then the joy and tears. This is the right name for our hope." The Gdansk Shipyard strike in August 1980, led by the charismatic Lech Walesa, gave birth to Solidarity - the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union. Over a little more than a year, it grew to an almost 10-million strong civic movement, which tormented the communists at home and infuriated their bosses in the Soviet Union. Journalist Robert Strybel. ROBERT STRYBEL: "It happened to attract all the natural enemies of the regime. So, probably very few times in history, other than major revolutions, have we had almost all of society lined up against an oppressive governing regime. And this was what happened. The word Solidarity was not simply a slogan, it was actual reality because you had young people and old people, believers and non-believers, truck drivers, farmers, intellectuals, taxi drivers, artists, actors - the most incongruous bed-fellows you could possibly imagine - all had a stake in overthrowing the existing regime." Even though Solidarity's self-limiting revolution of 25 years ago was followed by many setbacks, which included martial law, it is clear that the events in Gdansk were a catalyst for change in the whole of Central Europe. American publisher Robert Gamble has been living in Poland for almost three decades. ROBERT GAMBLE: "To me there is absolutely no doubt - from Solidarity, from all Poles joining in with it - I think that's what made Gorbachow see that change was absolutely necessary." Nine years after Solidarity was born, at the time when the Berlin Wall was still standing, Poland had Central Europe's first democratic government in over fifty years. As Dutch journalist Ekke Overbeek stresses, from today's perspective the importance of Solidarity cannot be overestimated. EKKE OVERBEEK: "Well, I can assure you that's one of the first associations Poland evokes in Solidarnosc. So, I don't think Europe forgets about what happened in Poland 25 years ago." An honorary committee for Solidarity's 25th anniversary is headed by the union's founder, former president of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa. It brings together many prominent figures not only politicians. Invitations to come to Gdansk for the celebrations will be addressed to former presidents George Bush and Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Originally posted by Cybulski:[qb] So Walesa become a caricature... [/qb]

That is unfortunate, because I think the Poles really have a lot to thank him for! Perhaps they think the Pope did it all, but it is the ordinary man rising above himself that can make a difference. [/qb]

Nancy,

but Walesa is not self-critical. He was really a lousy president. I mean, should Poles let him to be a president again (They let him once) if he was so bad? Yes, we do appreciate him being a symbol of Solidarity but... it does not mean that we have to sacrifice our state and let Walesa to be a president again.